Indians scramble to apply for EB-5 visa programme ahead of expiry in April

Indians are said to scrambling to apply for the United States investor visa scheme, which is known as the EB-5, in order to procure a green card before it expires on 28 April.

Under the EB-5 Investor Visa programme, foreign nationals and their immediate family (children below the age of 21) get an opportunity to get US green cards and permanent residency by investing through two routes.

The first route, which entails direct investment, provides an opportunity to entrepreneurs to invest at least $1 million in America, launch a startup there and create 10-full time jobs for the US citizens.

In the other route, one must invest a sum $500,000 one-time into an EB-5 initiative approved by the US government, which would create a minimum of 10-full time jobs for American in rural areas. The investment can be redeemed after five years.

The Times of India report states that this is said to have caused a sudden spike in the number of Indians signing up for this programme. The people evincing interest in this are reportedly executives of top Indian business houses and certain business families. The current haste for EB-5 is being attributed to the expiry of the programme in April and apprehensions over Trump administration’s approach to H1-B visas.

In addition, in January, the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) has mooted raising the minimum investment sum to $1.35 million from $500,000.

A rider in this programme is that if the amount invested in a venture is unable to create jobs, the applicant’s green card would be rejected.

If you are looking to migrate to the United States, contact Y-Axis, India’ largest immigration consultancy firm, to apply for a visa from one of its various offices located in the country’s largest cities.